CTA representatives, supported by more than 1,100 letters from State Council members and more than 6,000 e-mails from grassroots members, have defeated measures introduced during a special legislative session that would have dismantled the state's successful class size reduction program.
"Had the measures passed, districts throughout the state would have been allowed to keep the extra money they get from the state and pack more students into each classroom, undermining the academic gains students have already made as a result of this educational reform," says CTA President Wayne Johnson.
ABX1 5 by Assembly Member Lynn Daucher (R-72) was defeated in early February in the Assembly Budget Committee. It would have authorized school districts to determine the average class size on a school-site basis. Districts would have been allowed to enroll as many as 22 students in any single class, thereby getting around the cap of 20 students per class currently in effect for grades K-3.
At least four similar bills have been introduced as part of the 2003 regular legislative session. Superintendents, school business officials and some school board members who claim local school districts must have "flexibility" are pushing for their approval.
CTA is opposing all four:
- AB 42 (Daucher) is virtually identical to the ABX1 5 defeated last month.
- AB 163, introduced by Assembly Member Joe Nation (D-6), would eliminate the class size caps in academic subjects in the Tamalpais Union High School District.
- AB 212, introduced by Assembly Member Bill Maze (R-34), would allow districts to place as many as 24 students in K-3 classrooms.
- AB 228, introduced by Assembly Member Tim Leslie (R-4), would allow districts to determine class size averages on a school-site basis rather than a classroom basis. It would allow the placement of more than 22 students in a classroom.
The bills would remove class size caps but continue to send state class size reduction incentive money (about $888 per student) into the districts for use in whatever way the administrators decide.
Districts would indeed gain flexibility, says Johnson - flexibility to lay off more than 6,000 teachers and free up $400 million statewide for pet projects.
CTA is building a community-based coalition to join teachers in supporting smaller class sizes for students. Groups that have signed on already include the California State PTA, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the Black American Political Association of California, People for the American Way, the Industrial Areas Foundation and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.